So I'm typing this to test to see if this is a COMPUTER problem, or an ACCOUNT problem.
For those that don't know, I've been having trouble uploading new chapters because of an error accessing the edit pages for my stories. I haven't contacted the website YET, but I probably will soon.
Meanwhile, enjoy your Tradition. Relief will come later.
Tradition.
It is a thing that keeps people together. Yet at the same time, it is a thing that tears people apart.
It forms the "normal" in the society, yet it's meant to be broken.
Tradition. It is a very strange thing indeed.
It is what a group of people have done for awhile and consider the normal and decent thing to do. Anyone that breaks it is looked down upon, but if it is broken for the good of everyone, that person is soon looked well upon.
Sometimes tradition prevents change, and this is bad. It prevents the growth of a group of people as a whole.
Sometimes tradition prevents change, and this is good. It prevents a group of people from making horrible mistakes.
Tradition.
It can make you or break you, and it all depends on just how you break it. Break it delicately, and you shall be rewarded.
Break it roughly, and it could cost you everything.
The Warrior Code prevented it. It was wrong in every way imaginable.
But before, Leafpool hadn't cared. She was happy. Crowfeather was happy. That was all that mattered to either of them.
But they couldn't be together. The Clans followed the Code so closely, they would never allow it. This relationship broke the Warrior Code into little pieces, and this couldn't possibly make the Clans happy.
Leafpool was a medicine cat, and Crowfeather was a warrior. She from ThunderClan, he from WindClan.
It was wrong. In every way imaginable.
But before, Leafpool didn't care, and neither did Crowfeather.
So they turned their backs on everything they knew. They thought it was for the best. They wanted nothing more than to be together, so if the Clans didn't like that, they wouldn't stay. It was as simple as that.
Or so they thought.
The two lovers left that night, and no one knew. Everyone would be frantic, until they put the pieces together. Soon they'd get the full story, and would regard the two as a distant nightmare that was never real.
So they thought it was for the best.
They went through WindClan territory until they reached the part that no cat used, no cat entered, and no cat stayed. But there was food and shelter, so they entered. They'd given up everything for each other. Everything but each other.
Leafpool missed everyone, but she'd thought she knew she could leave them for the one cat she actually loved.
Even medicine cats are entitled to happiness.
...Aren't they?
They spent the night there, not picking out a permanent home yet, and thoughts roared through Leafpool's mind. Questions with no answers. Pleas with no one to listen. Pain with no one to bear it. And the ultimate question lingered in her mind the whole time.
Was this the right choice?
She couldn't be any happier...but doubt nagged in her mind. Like an impatient elder, it kept yowling and yowling at her until she was forced to address the issue. She wanted to be with Crowfeather more than anything, but what about the Clanmates she had left behind. What if they were all in danger? What if something dreadful happened and she wasn't there to help? What if...what if...
So many questions. So little time. The night had to give way to dawn at some point, and it wouldn't wait for her.
She got some sleep. She dreamt. She thought. And when she woke up, she thought it was all over.
A badger was at the mouth of the cave.
They were doomed.
But this was no ordinary badger. Midnight the badger had come to warn the Clans of an upcoming danger. It could come at any time, and the two cats could save or destroy the Clans with the simple of decision of whether they were going to warn the Clans or not.
They thought on it. And made a decision.
They had to go back.
They loved each other. They were the one thing that the other cat cared about most. But their hearts weren't with each other.
Their bodies had left, but their hearts had remained with the Clans.
Leafpool knew what she would face by going back. She had broken the Code. She'd really broken the Code bad. They'd never forget, they'd never fully trust her, and she was the only cat she could blame.
The Clans were the most important thing to them, and they had to go back.
They thought it had been for the best. But it had all been for nothing. Or had they learned their lesson at the end?
Before, Leafpool hadn't cared. But now, she couldn't care more. Not when the lives of her Clanmates were at stake.
Shorter, maybe, then some of the others. But don't judge a book by its cover, and don't judge a person by their length.
One thing I liked less about this one was that it was already in Leafpool's point of view. So doing it in the same cat's point of view? Kinda redundant.
Ah well.